Too Cold to Shiver
by Otte
Summary: M3 Rebuilding your world isn't the easiest thing to do, Kumatora discovers. Especially when your world is unpredictable and expanding, the boy who saved you all is becoming more distant, and you have to hold everything together yourself. discontinued
1. Chapter 1

**Too Cold to Shiver  
**by Otte, because the idea would not leave me alone and I feel the need to figure out what happened after the end of that game. Darnit why do you play with my heart so, Itoi? Also, just as a note - this isn't a KumaxLucas fic - they are just the main characters I focus on in the story. Sorry if you're disappointed! Anyway, do enjoy Too Cold to Shiver and shut up Otte this note is getting long.

Lucas had never quite felt loneliness like he felt after you left.

It was strange. He hadn't been aware you were there, but he'd somehow understood that you had been guiding him, putting an arm around him, helping him fight and live and breathe the way he did, all the way to the end. He knew you as soon as he saw you – there was a name there, a name that had been there all the time. He knew you saved them all; you were a friend he'd never known he'd had.

Yet for the life of him, he couldn't remember your name. The second you took that doorknob and left his world for your own, he couldn't name you; he couldn't picture your face. He just knew you'd help them – he just knew that your world had collided with his, just for a second, just to save him, and all the people around him. You hadn't wanted to give up on his world - that much he understood, and he was thankful.

He'd felt sadness before, he'd felt sadness so terrible he'd wondered if his little heart was breaking, but it was the first time in years, he'd ever felt completely alone.

He had to accept it though. You were gone, you had your world, one bigger than his own, and he had his. He suspected that you couldn't come back if you tried. At least, not after you left.

There was still more life to live, and he would have to live it himself.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"But why do _I _have to do this work? My estate was the biggest in Tazmily! I had a _butler_, a sophisticated family, a well-stocked wine cellar...I can identify two dozen types of cheeses from smell alone! I have to say, I'm more qualified for your job than you are, princess."

Kumatora inhaled deeply through her teeth, trying to repress every normal urge inside of her to simply punch the old man until some sense got through the thick bald skull of his. It was bad luck that her enemies couldn't be taken care of by a few swift punches to head anymore – she had to actually have _patience_. With _other people. _She had not realised rebuilding the world would involve this.

"Look, dude, everybody has to do it," she said, and with some effort, bit back the 'even old geezers like you' on the tip of her tongue. Pusher sighed exaggeratedly, looking up at her with the expression of a small child scorned.

This whole leadership business could be a complete pain in the backside, she thought wearily, and sometimes she just wished she could go back to Oshoe Castle, with the lovely drunken ghosts and haunted suits of armour. They were endearing, compared to some of the more idiotic villagers.

Of course, the castle was gone now, and her somewhat dubious title of "Princess" had landed her straight into the middle of the mess – suddenly she was their magical pink-haired and rather awesome leader. Leder had thought it was a good idea that Kumatora supply them all with some direction, since she was, of course, their princess and apparently "had the constitution for it".

She was very aware this probably meant not many people had the balls to argue with her, and that knowledge, at least, was satisfying.

"Why back in my day, we would have never been ordered around by a little girl like you," Pusher complained, but still kept a good distance from Kumatora. "Little girl" wasn't a very fitting title - she was very tall, lean and quite capable of wrestling with a half-hippo-half-cannon and winning. Something she was delighted to mention at every opportunity.

"Back in your day, you never had to have a little boy save your collective asses either," she said sharply, "Now stop griping and _help._"

Pusher avoided her eyes and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Very well then, I see that I'm needed here. I very well can't let my villagers run amok without my guidance," he said and shuffled away swiftly, not sparing a second glance at her, off to join the other villagers in foraging and collecting. Kumatora sighed and rubbed her face, as if trying to wipe the exhaustion and stress away.

It had been hard since The Reset – Tazmily Village hadn't been preserved when the Dragon rampaged and neither had New Pork City, or even Oshoe Castle. She had seen the ruins of her castle a while back, a ghost had found her and taken her to it – it had sunk into the ground and mostly collapsed into rubble. Seeing the place she had spent so many years in – lonely years, but good years – in such a state of irreparable destruction was more than a bit heartbreaking. Still, the Dragon had presented them with a completely clean and uncorrupted world - not a trace of that depraved man-child's work was left, as far as they could tell.

The railway, though, hadn't been destroyed – perhaps just from sheer luck, and she'd been surprised to find all the Magypsies' homes completely untouched. She suspected there was still something protecting them now, and there was a quiet hope at the back of her mind that this meant they weren't gone forever. The Magypsies, despite their general reluctance to try and care for the short-lived humans around them, had been her first family.

Hinawa's grave and the sunflowers had also remained preserved. It made sense, Lucas did pour his little heart into the Dragon – if there was anything he didn't want destroyed it was his mother's peace. The poor kid.

"Princess," a polite voice said behind her, and she twisted around to see a more amiable short, balding man behind her. Well, more amiable towards her at least.

"Have you seen doofus anywhere?" Wess asked, his arms folded across his chest and his eyes narrowed in frustration. She rolled her eyes a little – Duster's relationship with his father had improved none since The Reset.

"No, I haven't seen _Duster_ anywhere," she said, emphasising his name pointedly, "He's probably taking care of the kids."

"Good to know that idiot's spending time with people on his level," Wess mumbled grumpily to himself, "Anyway, princess, what needs to be done? I'm old, but I'm more use than half of the young'uns around here."

Kumatora smiled despite herself, and removed a crumpled piece of paper from her hoodie pocket. She couldn't help but appreciate it when people were actually actively trying to help, rather than complaining like Pusher or just moping around and chattering incessantly like Nan.

Or, alternatively, just disappearing from the face of the earth for hours at a time like Lucas, she thought with a sickening twist in her gut. She shook it off – she worried about Lucas, but he was very capable of taking care of himself, and he'd been through far too much for them all to pressure him for help after the whole fiasco. Perhaps he needed some time to himself, as annoying (annoying, she told herself, not worrying – she wasn't some broody mother) as it was.

She smoothed out the paper and looked through the checklist, fumbling in her pocket for her pen.

"Kay, so we've got a team out foraging, some of the guys have went to gather materials for building if you wanna help with that. The doc might want a hand as well, he said he's gonna plan out the buildings, and invent some "really useful stuff"," she said, gesturing with her hands to indicate she didn't have any idea what that was supposed to mean, "Else you could go out and look for the other Saturns, a lot of them are still wandering around lost."

Wess looked at her oddly.

"I thought Saturn Valley was fine? And the Saturns are all supposed to be pretty smart, I'm sure they can manage," he said. She shrugged.

"They're geniuses, but they have a horrible sense of direction. I dunno man; I don't really get them at all. Last one I found was chasing after this dragonfly with a balloon tied to his nose. Ask if anybody has some Strawberry Tofu, they come running if they smell it," she said. Wess nodded and ran off in the other direction

She glanced around at the makeshift tents pitched around her, and suddenly felt as though there was a lot more work to be done yet. They weren't even living in house yet, their new world hadn't even been mapped out, they didn't even know if they could go beyond the island. There were so many things they didn't have and didn't know.

She folded her arms across her chest and wondered how the hell she was going to pull this all together by herself.

She should go find Duster – it was probably due time for another excursion, she still felt as though the land hadn't been sufficiently explored.

Duster was pretty good with kids. They liked him; he was quiet, gentle and patient so of course they liked him. He just wasn't authoritative, that was the key problem when he was actually supposed to teach them and make them care about stuff they didn't, rather than just take care of them and befriend them.

"Okay kids, if you could all sit down please, I want to go over some stuff today," he said, to the three kids in the tent, who were pretty much paying no attention at all.

"Richie, have you seen Lucas around today?"

"No, no, Fuel, he's gone again. Wouldn't you rather talk about me?" she said, batting her eyelashes. Fuel looked at her as if she was a complete freak of nature, it clearly going over his head.

"Hey, Duster! Duster! Wall-staple the cliff again, that was cool!" Nichol shouted exciteably.

"Nichol, do you want to be a thief or something?" Richie said wearily.

"It was pretty cool, Richie. I still like when he put that sheep to sleep!" Fuel chimed in.

"Boys are _so_ weird."

"Wonder what sheep count to go to sleep…"

"Goats probably."

"No really, what's wrong with you two?"

Kumatora watched the scene unfold before her with a smirk. She might want to rethink having Duster give the kids lessons – he didn't have the best control of his class, as tiny as it was. He was reduced to helplessly trying to tell the kids to sit down and be quiet, and she covered her hand to block a slight snigger.

She gave him a few more minutes, but the kids didn't show any sign of shutting up anytime soon. She sighed and walked across to stand next to him.

"_Oi! Kids! Shut up!"_ she shouted, making a PK Fire Alpha flare from her fingertips.

Fuel, Nichol and Richie stopped chattering and look up at the adults, as if they hadn't quite realised there'd been other people under the canopy. Duster smiled gratefully at her and nodded for the three kids to sit down.

"Okay you three, I know it's…weird, lately, but everybody still thinks you should have _some _schooling going on," he said, "It's gonna be loose at best, at least until we can get anything normal set up, but we do still have a couple of books –" he was interrupted by all three children groaning in union, and Kumatora resisted the urge to laugh, or rub their faces in it, "Yeah, yeah, I know it sucks. It's just some maths, a little bit of literature and some useful stuff for surviving out here. We're living rough right now, so you need to know some basic survival stuff."

"Will we learn thief arts?" Nichol asked eagerly, pushing his glasses up his nose. Duster laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well I don't think so. That's…a family matter," he said, gesturing with his right hand and smiling apologetically. Nichol slumped back, and looked bitterly disappointed, and Richie rolled her eyes.

Duster cleared his throat awkwardly, and passed a slightly beaten-looking textbook to the three children. They looked at him sceptically and Kumatora saw his face go red and she suddenly wanted to knock their heads together. Yeah, the whole state of the place was a bit pathetic, but she would not let them be ungrateful for it. Fuel seemed to understand the most, but Nichol and Richie didn't seem to realise what they'd all been through just for this. Or, well, what Lucas had been through for this.

"Just have a look through the first chapter of that between you, I'll be back in a sec," he said, glancing over at Kumatora. They walked around the back of the canopy, neither of them exactly sure why they chose to talk away from the kids.

"Hey, you want to go scouting?" she asked cheerfully. Duster raised an eyebrow at her.

"Kumatora," he said, "I'm kind of in the middle or something here?"

Kumatora waved a hand dismissively.

"We'll bring the sprogs with us, Duster, you damn well know the more they know about actually staying alive at this point the better," she continued with a shrug, trying to pretend that had been her intention all along. He smiled weakly at her.

"Well, yeah, you have a point there," he admitted. She grinned and slapped him on the back roughly.

"Right then, it's decided!" she announced and rushed out around the other side of the canopy, where the children had been listening intently, "Right you brats, scouting mission and basic survival today. I'm coming with."

The three exchanged looks but didn't say anything. After all, you had to be stupid to argue with Kumatora.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

He walked along the tracks, one foot falling in front of the other, his arms spread wide to balance on the thin, silver rail. Little more than a few weeks ago, he'd been taking this same route with Boney loping by his side. He remembered straining his ears for the fatal sound of a train, then. Now he had no such worries, the cave was silent and harmless. Before, it had been alive with monstrosities; living plants scuttling around his feet, bizarre dogs stitched and fused together with things that shouldn't be, cowering in the damp and dark, trying to bury themselves in the ground, almost suffocating themselves due to their confused, torn minds.

Sometimes he wondered where the Chimeras had went, and what had happened to them when the Dragon rose. He wondered if they ever resented him or feared him when he fought them. The Chimeras were something he had to wonder about a lot, moreso now they weren't around - it was always easier to think about complicated things in retrospect.

They had been far from natural or normal creatures, and he was willing to bet that they had lived in pain, but he couldn't help but hope the chimeras hadn't been killed. Perhaps they'd just been made tame, or split into their component parts - at least he hoped that was what happened. It seemed bitterly unfair. They'd tried so hard on the journey to not kill anything in their fights, to just make them harmless. Alive and healthy, but tame – it had seemed simple enough to maintain.

There'd still been causalities though – accidents; when one swing was too hard, when one PK Fire hit all too well, whem one fall proved too rough. Complete accidents, Duster had assured him, there was nothing he could've done.

He felt sick to his stomach thinking about it, Kumatora and Duster might be able to shrug it off, but he could remember the light draining from the eyes of a creature he'd struck down, or the way its legs had flailed, or how it had grappled for life in those precious few seconds before it fell cold. He'd always been soft - "wuss" was the most appropriate word.

It was either them or him, Kumatora had said, they die or he does - sometimes that's just how the world works.

What about Claus, then? He could've done a million things different; he could've stopped it all from going wrong - either one week ago, a month ago, three years ago. He'd missed so many chances to save his brother's life.

He sighed as he exited the tunnel, the sunlight soothing his face and he brushed a hand through his blonde hair. No point dwelling on it, Lucas, he told himself, Claus was with mum now, he was at peace. Still, he couldn't help but think about it. He just wanted to know if it was all alright, if he at least knew he didn't hate him.

The train tracks stopped suddenly, and he breathed in the fresh, clean air. The air in the valley had once been pungent and heavy. A factory had towered over him, seeping sickly odours into the sky. Instead of the birds flying above and the squirrel that had darted up the tree nearby, there had been animals roaming that looked like toys taken apart and stuck back together at random. They had stumbled and slithered without across the island, everything about them wrong – heads too heavy, bodies clumsy and made deadly, brains fried to the point that fear and violence was all they knew.

The long grass, damp with dew underfoot, tickled his bare ankles and as he glanced down at himself, he realised with embarrassment he'd wandered out in his pyjamas.

Jeez, what was the matter with him? Did he really need somebody to remind him to change before he left the house anymore?

He laughed softly at himself and laid down in the grass. The clouds shifted lazily overhead, forming delicate, melting pictures within the whites and greys. A cool breeze swept across him gently, stroking the grass and carrying away dandelion seeds. He rolled onto his stomach, ignoring the fact grass stains were probably seeping into his pyjamas and smiled slightly at the warm sun on his back. He stared across the endless greenery, almost able to trace the outline of the factory in the sky. Reaching even further out, he could imagine the rope bridge up to Club Titiboo. He could see where the treacherous Thunder Tower had once stood piercing the sky, holding everything below it trapped in a prison of forced smiles and false adoration, the bars made of lightning.

Then suddenly, it was as if there'd never been any corruption in the world. Everything became pure again; it was so strange to think that only a week ago, he'd been fighting for his life and now he could lie in the grass in his pyjamas, feel the sun on his back and the dew soaking his stomach. He could lie for as long as he liked, undisturbed.

Eyes closed, he listened to the wind.

He felt footsteps on the ground, through his body. A tiny, familiar voice crept into his ears.

Eyes opened, and the world was as quiet and empty as ever.

He sat up, shivered and felt suddenly afraid. He was sure he'd heard sometime, sure he had felt something move around him. An almost oppressive stillness stood around him, untouched by any mumbling threats.

He stood up and crossed his arms nervously, fingers digging into his elbows. He'd faced ghosts before, heck one of his best friends had lived with them, but this was different, it was ominous. Menacing. His heart began to beat faster, and he was unexpectedly afraid of the sheer tranquillity and silence around him.

He started to walk swiftly back along the train-tracks, trying to push away the knowledge of who the voice sounded like.

Dad was probably looking for him anyway, he needed to go back, he thought, steering his thoughts firmly away from anything that might scare him. He should just forget about it, change out of his pyjamas, brush his hair, move forward and don't look back. Never look back.

Even as he made his resolutions, he knew he'd be walking back along the same tracks again before long.

* * *

"Alright, here's a few wild berries and stuff. From what we've gathered, these little purple-blue-ish ones will you make you pretty sick. These big pink ones are fine and quite tasty, probably be pretty nice in pies," Kumatora babbled, showing the three children the berries as she found them. They all looked hungrily up at her as she mentioned pies and Kumatora was close to laughing – it'd be a while yet before they could manage a meal that fancy. They'd worry about houses before they went looking for grain and building stoves.

"Those berries are one of the new ones. We've been finding…stuff we never had before," Duster added, twirling a wall staple between his fingers as he felt around for a scalable part of the cliff. Nichol watched with thinly veiled fascination, as Duster's fingers crawled against the rock. Occasionally he'd stop, and press the staple's point into the soil then extract it, invariably looking unimpressed.

Richie muttered as she gathered more berries under Kumatora's direction, seeming unimpressed with the work and glancing down at her dress now and then. She grimaced down at the thorns tearing at it, and the mud seeping through the hem. Fuel rocketed around, not doing much other than running around aimlessly and carefully avoiding everything Kumatora told him to do.

"It's weird. I don't think this is Nowhere Island, anymore," Duster muttered softly. Kumatora looked up with interest as Duster trailed off and stared pensively up at the cliff before him. He sank the point of the wall staple slowly into the earth, and then smiled.

He whipped around and took a staple in each hand, breathed in deeply and he swung his arms against the earth, the staples taking grip with a loud _clunk_.

Kumatora gave him an approving grin and a thumbs-up as Nichol watched in admiration. Richie rolled her eyes as she brushed leaves from her dress and slung her pack over her back.

"Have you two actually got anything?" she asked Fuel and Nichol. Nichol held up his pack to show he had, in fact, foraged some meagre amount of food and Fuel just grinned sheepishly and shrugged.

Kumatora clicked her fingers impatiently at them, and with some hesitation, they began to climb up the wall staples. She followed, and promptly decided she was far too used to casually climbing up giant staples to be entirely sane.

As she reached the top of the cliff, she recognised the faint sound of running water in the distance, as the trodden grass below opened up into a wide, overgrown area of greenery, closed in by towering walls of stone. The rich, empty land stretching into the distance, and disappearing into a ghostly-looking mountain, jagged and pale against the blue sky.

"This is Mt Oriander, right?" Duster asked hesitantly.

"Mt Oriander…sort of, at least," Kumatora replied with some amusement, putting a hand to block her eyes against the hot midday sun. In the near distance, she could see the grey-blue shapes of Crag Lizards moving against the dusty brown landscape, sounders of wild boars foraging for food and moving towards the grassier outcrops of rock.

It was, or at least very like Mt Oriander, but it seemed different somehow – almost the same, but it didn't feel right, or look quite right. It was difficult to explain the change in words, Kumatora just felt it beneath her feet - nothing was quite the same as it had been.

"What's the plan then?" Fuel asked impatiently, seemingly not as inclined to admire the view as the others were.

"Right, head up here, check out the old Magypsy house because we haven't seen that one yet, up to Drago Plateau to see if they survived The Reset at all," Kumatora ordered, striding ahead of the others already, her feet itching for some exploration. This, this she liked. She didn't have to stand around arguing with some old bugger with crumpled leather for skin, and she didn't have to bark complaints up at a freakishly tall taciturn old man whose default response was to stare down at her until she got bored.

Instead she could just scale a mountain, possibly punching out a few agitated boars or overtly aggressive Crag Lizards. It was savagery at its finest and she delighted in that. At least she felt like she was actually _doing_ something. Other than getting extremely frustrated, that is.

"We should get Mapson out here one day," Duster said after some time of tireless hiking, "He could do with making a new map."

Kumatora made a mental note to do that when she got back – map-loving Mapson would be incredibly co-operative with anything they told him to do, as long as it included maps in some way.

"Yeah, it's not the same layout, I don't think. Could be handy to have a revised map," she replied. She watched the kids ahead, running ahead of each other and stumbling and shoving each other playfully. With a burst of sudden laughter, they ran ahead and out of sight.

"Hey, wait there!" Duster cried after them, "Careful!"

Kumatora laughed and put her hands behind her head.

"They'll be fiiine," Kumatora said flippantly, "We've been walking awhile and none of the creatures around here seem agressi – "

She was interrupted by a roar and a scream.

"Oh _freaking damnit. _That was like, what, three damn minutes!?" she said, as she seized Duster's wrist and started to run. A large, bipedal lizard was snarling at them, only held back by Fuel's frantic waving of a large branch, and the rocks Richie was haphazardly throwing at it.

The creature snarled and whipped its bulky tail, knocking the makeshift weapon from Fuel's hands. It whipped a hungry tongue across its jaws, and leapt at the three shrieking children.

Duster threw himself at it and delivered a swinging kick to the creature's face. It fell to the ground, with force that left cracks through its rocky hide. It scrambled to its feet with a hiss and dashed off.

The three of them watched it disappear, shivering slightly despite the heat.

"Damnit, what the hell did you all run off for? You damn well should know that this place could be dangerous – it's a _mountain _I mean what the crap," Kumatora ranted, and then added in a tone that she had_ intended_ to be slightly more calm and assuring, "Are any of you hurt?"

They all shared terrified glances, none of them daring to say anything. Nichol's back was still against the cliff-face, one hand gripping his forearm. Kumatora scowled at them, and inwardly fumed at herself for not just telling them to come back in the first place.

"Its okay, are you all alright?" Duster said in a much softer voice, and they all seemed to breathe with a bit more ease. Nichol released his grip, revealing rough bloody lines etched across his arm. Duster crouched down to inspect it as Nichol nervously tried to explain what had happened, his voice getting progressively more quick and thin. Duster shook his head and tried to assure him that it was fine, they didn't need to explain themselves, they'd just been worried.

Kumatora rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. It's fine, jeez, chill out," she said, and tried desperately to suppress the desire to knock their heads together, "We can take care of Crag Lizards easily and none of you seem that hurt. Just don't bloody run off. You should _know _that's a stupid idea, bloody hell."

"Didn't even notice we did it," Fuel muttered sulkily. Richie elbowed him pointedly and he fell silent.

"Kumatora, a quick Lifeup Alpha would help here," Duster said and Kumatora moved forward and pressed her fingers to Nichol's skin, ignoring his slight whimper of pain. She felt a cool energy spread down her fingertips, and she twisted the energy around his arm, wrapping it like a bandage. The blood stopped flowing and Nichol's muscles relaxed. She rubbed the blood from his arm with her sleeve, revealing that only a few thin, white scars remained.

"Good job it didn't do much damage," she said, her voice more gentle now she'd calmed down, "Lucas is a _lot _better at healing stuff than I am, so if you'd been knocked unconscious or hurt too badly, it might have just been beyond my skills. We'd have had to carry you all the way back to the camp for help.. It still hurt?"

Nichol shook his head fervently.

"Good. Now get up, kid, we've got a little way to go yet."

The rest of the journey passed by uneventfully, the three seeming much more subdued, and walking a modest pace ahead of them – as if just afraid Kumatora would start yelling at them again if they walked too close.

Though they had all seemed pretty freaked out when she and Duster had started talking to frogs and leaping across them, and Fuel had even plaintively complained that it'd be so much simpler to just build a bridge or something.

Kumatora didn't quite understand the complaints. Frogs were so much easier.

"You spent too much time with the Magypsies," Duster said weakly, smiling at her as they passed by the cow that lived by Aeolia's house.

"Whaat? Talking frogs too complicated for these kids or something? Not good enough for 'em?" she asked, and then added in a conversational tone, "I was babysat by frogs when I was really little, yanno. When Magypsies were busy with "grown up matters darling". And lizards took care of me too, sometimes."

"You're insane."

Kumatora shrugged and grinned unabashedly, before stopping in front of a familiar house. It looked like a whip of pink cream, floating placidly on a bed of water. The door was open by an inch, and the stepping stones leading to the ornate magenta door looked eroded and faded.

"What…" Fuel began to ask, and then his voice faded away as if he just could not think of any words that could apply to the situation.

"Aeolia's house. You've probably never a met a Magypsy, have you?" she asked. They all shook their heads, "Well, this is where they lived. They're gone now, but their houses are still here, for some reason."

They all looked up, surprised at the sombre tone in Kumatora's voice. She folded her arms and scowled at them.

"What? I was raised by these guys, sheesh," she said, feeling her face grow slightly hot at being caught off-guard.

"Should we go in?" Duster asked, shifting uncomfortably and looking up at the abandoned house.

The damp, pink surface glimmered in the sun, looking so weird and bright and out of place against the natural hues of the landscape around it. Weird, bright and out of place were what all the Magypsies had been like to the rest of the world, she supposed, so it made sense.

"Yeah," Kumatora said, with a bit of hesitation and unease, "Might as well. Might be something inside"

Kumatora shepherded the three children ahead of her. They made their unsteady way across the stepping stones, glancing up and down at the water and the house as if they couldn't quite grasp the situation for how surreal it was.

Fuel stopped suddenly, and Kumatora grabbed at Nichol who almost stumbled over. She opened her mouth to let loose a string of profanities at him, but he spoke first.

"Do you…hear something?"

The other four fell silent, straining their ears for a noise. Slowly, Kumatora heard a soft noise emerge from the silence - a faint snuffling behind the door. Duster and Kumatora exchanged anxious, perplexed glances.

She waved at them to continue in, and they all moved inside the house. The inside was dark and gloomy. The fairy lights strung across the mirrors and cabinets had long flickered out and a layer of dust was settling on all the disused, abandoned objects inside. Cobwebs had worked their way into the corners of the room, and their reflections looked distorted in the filthy mirror against the wall, like alien, shapeless figures trespassing in Aeolia's old life.

Kumatora snarled as she cracked her knee against a table, and clicked her fingers, a plume of PK Fire Alpha held tight and controlled between her fingertips. Fuel stared with an expression that was a bizarre mix of fascination and horror.

Under the pale, flickering light of a flame, the abandoned room seemed even more eerie. She could still hear the snuffling and breathing in the background, it set the hairs of her neck on end and she spun around urgently, trying to seek out the source of the noise.

The air felt oppressive and it pressed down on her, humid and heavy. There was something distinctly creepy about the Magypsy house, so abandoned and pungent, and silent. There had always been music present when they'd been alive. Aeolia's house had been equipped a gramophone that played her same favourite record spinning on repeat, an old, twinkling tune leading with a heavy saxophone. The insistent repeating of it had seemed annoying while it was present, but the absence of it weighed more heavily on her than she'd expected.

"Kumatora," Duster's voice said, and she turned to face him, his face lit by the firelight.

"What?" she snapped, and wished that somebody would find the source of that noise already.

"There's something here," he said, indicating for her to move forward. She strode forward and leaned across at where Duster pointed at. The flame in her fingers flickered and rose dangerously for a second and she inhaled sharply in surprise.

"…what the _hell_."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

In the tent, his clothes were already laid out, and a brush had been left at the head of his battered sleeping bag, the bedding bleeding out of unstitched fractures. His father's sleeping bag was absent. Lucas sighed a little and changed, still shivering a little in the silence.

His striped shirt was odorous and filthy, his shorts were beginning to look frayed and tattered and the soles of his shoes were coming loose. All the survivors were beginning to look the same, slowly – rough, tired, even savage. Though Lucas would admit, he probably looked the worst. He rubbed his face, and wondered if he looked as tired as he felt.

"Princess, you're back!" he heard a voice say – he recognised it as Wess, "With Dipstick and the kids as well, did you bring anything use…ful…"

His voice suddenly faded away and Lucas turned around suddenly – it was _not _like Wess to go quiet. As he emerged from the tent, he saw Kumatora standing with Fuel, Richie and Nichol, all carrying baskets and bags of foraged food and items. Next to them, stood Duster, his eyes not meeting his father's, shuffling his feet awkwardly and he held something his arms. It snuffled, gurgled and squirmed, wrapped in what looked like some torn, pink curtains.

"Pinhead," Wess said with a tone of gravity. As if sensing danger, the three other children quietly snuck off in different directions, "What is that?"

"It's…a baby," Duster replied meekly, in the nervous, fluttering tone of a child who didn't know what he was in trouble for. Wess opened his mouth but Kumatora held up a palm to silence him.

"We found it in Aeolia's old house – the Magypsy's," Kumatora interrupted, "It was just abandoned there, so we brought the little brat back."

Wess looked contemplative for a moment, as if trying to assess the situation as subjectively as possible, or trying to figure out how it could possibly be Duster's fault.

"The Magypsies. I knew them, but the only baby they've ever taken into their care was _you_,princess. Was Aeolia taking care of an orphan before she vanished?" Wess said slowly. Kumatora shook her head, and suddenly noticed Lucas standing nearby, watching in bewilderment. He smiled weakly at her and she beckoned him to come over.

"Ionia never said anything about a kid they were takin' care of, did they?" Kumatora asked. He shook his head and she folded her arms, perplexed. Then, seemingly, she gave up trying to figure it out and simply threw her hands up.

"Well, no idea where it's come from then. Just need somebody to take care of it now."

"Doofus isn't," Wess replied sharply, and Duster looked up hesitantly, "He can barely take care of himself, so we need to get that baby into good care. Princess?"

"Woah, woah, woah, _woah!_" Kumatora nearly yelled, looking appalled at the suggestion and veering away as if the baby was going to leap out of Duster's arms and claim her as a mother, "Not. A. Chance. I mean, damn. We'll hold some sort of town meeting soon anyway, sort things out, see who wants another kid. Else they'll just be raised by the town until something is sorted out."

Lucas saw Duster swallow a laugh at Kumatora's revulsion at the idea of taking a baby under her care, and the two exchanged a quick grin.

"Whatever you like, princess," he replied humbly, looking slightly bemused by the weight of the reaction. He glanced at the baby, who was slowly slipping into sleep in Duster's arms, and inhaled through his teeth pensively.

"Well, I suppose that's fine. By the way princess, one of the Mr Saturn was trying to find the camp, so I brought him back. He's with Dr Andonuts and the other Saturns," Wess said dismissively, and waved goodbye. As he vanished into the trees, Duster seemed to breathe a small sigh of relief and Lucas saw his body relax.

Kumatora tapped her foot on the ground and spat out a globule of saliva at her side.

"Duster you take care of the kid for today will you? I should go see if Andonuts has those damn construction plans done," she said and then seemed to add after a brief moment's thought, "Oi, Lucas, you okay dude?"

He nodded mutely in reply, and Kumatora snorted like a horse, rolling her eyes.

"Everybody's starting to forget what your voice sounds like, man," she said, "Use it a bit more."

He almost nodded and then stopped himself, smiling apologetically.

"Yeah, sorry, I've been weird haven't I?" he asked. She grinned and slapped him on the back – rather painfully. He wished she would try to exercise more control over her own strength.

"Bit," she said, and ruffled his hair, before walking off with a cheerful wave, and disappeared into a nearby tent.

Lucas looked up at Duster and the snoozing baby in his arms, creeping closer for a better look. It just looked like a normal baby, a colourless fuzz of growing hair on its head; chubby hands and a tiny thumb in its tiny mouth.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked, his voice low to avoid rousing the baby.

"A girl, we think," Duster said, looking slightly perplexed, "It's all so weird though. There wasn't any reason for a baby to _be_ there. Unless somebody abandoned her…"

He trailed off hopelessly, unable to give the theory any more shape beyond that – there were too many questions to answer all at once. How the baby got there, where the parents were, why it was there at all – and it was a mystery that was beyond them completely.

"Well, it doesn't matter. We'll just deal with the situation as it is," Lucas said, smiling. Duster chuckled.

"You sound like Kumatora," he commented softly, "Though I suppose her head-first approach to everything is what we need about now."

Lucas considered this for a second – perhaps it was why Leder had asked, well, told, her to take up responsibility as the unofficial leader. It certainly made the most sense. The baby twitched a little in her sleep, her free hand balling up into a tiny fist on her chest.

Without warning, something soft and round slammed against his head with a ringing noise and he nearly fell over in fright.

"Ding! Mr Saturn here to assist blonde-boy! Brrring brrriing! Blonde-boy has call from father! Accept? Reject? Yes? No? Ding!" said a voice from on top of his head, and then he saw a large peach noise and beady eyes peering down at him, a single thick cord of hair hanging down over him, a red ribbon tied across it.

Lucas glanced helplessly at Duster, who was smiling and straining not to laugh.

"Brring brrring! Brring…brriiing?" Mr Saturn repeated with a hint of sadness in his strange voice. Lucas couldn't help but crack a smile at the Saturn. They presence of the Mr Saturns and their odd, quirky attitudes was always comforting in its own odd way.

"Hello, yes?" he said doubtfully, trying to balance as the Saturn hopped in delight and nearly tumbled off his head.

"Hello Lucas!" the Saturn said in a bizarre, peppy impersonation of his father, "I hope this Mr Saturn – that's me, ding! Mr Saturn gets this message to you. I've had to leave camp briefly, though I hope I'm back before the end of the week. Take care of the sheep while I'm gone, you're a good boy, you know what to do. Message stops here, zoom! Satisfactory?"

He tried to ignore the twist in his stomach, and pushed away the sweeping urge to suddenly withdraw at the ominous sense of familiarity. "You're a good boy, you know what to do". Lucas had woken up too many times to find his father's bed neatly made, food taken, a pack and a knife vanished and a note on the mirror.

_You're a good boy, you know what to do._

"Yes," he said, swallowing the unease, "That's great, thank you Mr Saturn."

The Saturn squeaked with delight and bounded off his head. He bounced on the ground a few times before setting himself upright, and made a slight bow, dipping his nose slightly and his ribbon bouncing on his head before he hopped away.

Duster looked at him sympathetically.

"Oh. Your dad going to be alright on that bad leg of his?" Duster asked. After a few seconds, he smiled awkwardly as the irony of the statement sunk in. Lucas nodded mutely.

"He's still got the cane we made him, he should be alright. Boney probably went with him too," he replied. After the incident, Flint had quickly found that one of his legs was paralysed, and though he always kept his face neutral and gruffly said it didn't hurt, Lucas had saw how his face tensed and his teeth dug into his lower lip when he tried to walk or move. Lucas had tried to use his PSI to fix it, but it had proved too much to fix through his abilities – they managed to make him mobile, but there was something wrong that was beyond him. When the combined efforts of Kumatora and himself had proved useless, Duster had helped him whittle a cane out of wood. Though, at first, Lucas had doubted his father would even use it.

However, he had accepted the cane with a grace and acquiescence nobody expected from him and Boney had loped obediently by his side ever since, quietly voicing his concern to Lucas when his other master was busy.

The baby began to stir again, her eyelids fluttered open and his babbled a little.

"I think I'd better go," Duster said quickly and swiftly limped away as the baby began to cry.

Lucas sighed and scratched the back of his neck, resigning himself to checking the sheep. Grey clouds were crowding the sky, and he quickened his pace across the route to the pen. In the near distance, he saw the fence and the animals moving slowly and placidly, grazing together. It grew dim around him as the sun slipped below the mountains, and ducked beneath the wire fence, scrambling under.

The single cow the villages owned between them all mooed at him, flicking its tail, and its big doleful eyes watching him as he moved around the flock, conversing with each animal in turn. Having psychic abilities proved useful enough even still, though he found using them to check if any of the livestock were ill much more easy than it was blasting animals to death with them.

"Hey, Lucas!" a voice cried, as he combed through a sheep's fleece, trying to find the gash it was so vocally complaining about. Lucas looked across and saw Fuel leaning on the fencepost, his face smeared with dirt and his dark brown hair as mussed as usual. He hopped over the fence with ease, grinning and waving.

"Oh, hi Fuel," he said as the other boy approached. The sheep bleated plaintively as his fingers brushed over the wound, and he muttered apologies before he turned and focused his attention on healing the wound. Fuel watched in fascination, and Lucas had to wonder what it looked like from the outside. He couldn't see for himself properly, whenever he used his psi, he couldn't see, not properly.

It was like for a few brief seconds he'd retract inside his own mind, his senses would cut off, but he'd still be able to comprehend his surroundings. He could touch them with a sixth sense he couldn't explain in words, not properly. It was like a flurry of comprehension all at once, an understanding he couldn't reach any other way and as quickly as it came, it passed, and he couldn't recall the exact sensations or thoughts that had rushed through his mind.

The sheep shook itself as he finished and retracted his hands, before it ambled off to join the rest of the flock. He shifted awkwardly when he noticed that Fuel was still gawping at him.

"Woah, how'd you _do _that?" Fuel asked, staring with wide eyes. Lucas shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward. Nobody had ever quite reacted so much before – admittedly, his abilities weren't something he showed others much. Unlike Kumatora who was quite eager to show off and scare people with hers at any opportunity.

Fuel continued to stare at him, and Lucas felt his face start to go red. He very suddenly felt as though he were on display.

"Do you think you could teach me?" he asked eagerly, and Lucas grinned sheepishly. He moved on to check the other animals as he spoke, Fuel trotting persistently beside him.

"Erm, sorry but I don't really think so. Well, I couldn't really explain how I do it," he rambled, his words becoming more insubstantial and his voice becoming smaller as he went on, "Because…I don't really know myself. Maybe you can do it, I don't know, but, maybe."

The cow moved sluggishly towards him, ears flicking.

"Mooooo! (I need a good milking. Us cows need to be milked you know)," it said.

"Er sorry, I don't have a bucket on me or anythi –" he began and then cut himself off as heard Fuel laughing quietly, and realised that Fuel couldn't understand a word the animal was saying. Before he offered an explanation, Fuel held a large metal bucket in front of his face.

"I came here to milk Ashie," he explained briefly, "Dad's cow."

"Fuel, Lighter and Ashie?" Lucas repeated wryly.

"You were the one talking to the cow," Fuel retorted quickly. Lucas laughed awkwardly, and decided not to bother explaining that he could actually understand them. It sounded a bit crazier to say that he could hold conversations with them rather than he just occasionally casually spoke to animals.

Fuel pulled a rag from his pocket and set himself down to milk the cow. Both boys continued to continue their chores in silence, the awkward lack of words slowly easing into a comfortable stillness. Lucas couldn't say he'd ever been friends with Fuel – though Claus had, and Lucas had grown used to Claus and Fuel stampeding around their house. More often than not, when got together they would be the ones to terrify him with huge spiders or scorpions they'd found whilst exploring. They had always encouraged each other to do incredibly stupid things, that Lucas always tried to have no part in. Inevitably, he'd regret his lack of courage when the two returned home - safe, grinning and laughing about their latest adventure, ready to tell stories that Lucas had secretly wished he had a role in.

The clouds unfolded above, and Lucas, for the second time in his life, felt rain pattering down on his skin. He swallowed and shivered in the chill, holding his elbows. He was the type who tried to not hate anything, but he really did hate the rain. It reminded him of roars, blood, crashing water, purple bruises blossoming on his skin, being battered around, hiding, crying, and a deep, burning shame that began as a seed deep in his chest, but stretched out and grew until it pushed against his skin, threatening to tear him apart.

"You don't like the rain either?" Fuel asked, his voice pulling him out of his memories. Lucas smiled again, he was glad he had some company. Human contact made it easy to think less of the past, and live more in the present. Fuel held the milk bucket under his shirt, looking entirely ridiculous in the process and Lucas sniggered.

"Well I don't want to get water in the milk," he said huffily and he looked up at the worsening rain, "C'mon. Let's go."

The rain was falling heavier as the two boys ran through the grass, the soil turning sludgy and damp beneath their feet.

* * *

This was a royal pain in the arse.

"Alright, everybody be quiet! Is everybody in town here?" Kumatora said, trying her best not to scream at them all to shut up with limited success. News of the baby had spread over the camp quickly – mostly because she'd kept all of them up for the majority of the night screaming inconsolably over the patter of rain. It had resulted in a cold, damp sleepless night for most people of Tazmily, and significantly shortened fuses the next day.

Kumatora rubbed her aching head through her damp fringe, glancing back at Duster who was still holding the unnamed baby in his arms. He smiled at her, but his eyes didn't meet hers and his eyelids fluttered with exhaustion. The gathered crowd continued to chatter between themselves and she nudged Leder in the knee behind her.

He raised his lanky arms and clapped in the air with his great hands, the sound making all those gathered look over in surprise

"_Right._ Lets try this _again_," Kumatora continued in exasperation. She saw Lighter in the crowd, his signature piece of lumber held over his shoulder as usual. She clicked her fingers and pointed at him, "Lighter, who's missing?"

"Errr," he glanced around, "Ol' Flint's gone and the doc isn't here."

Lucas raised his hand slowly and Kumatora nodded at him to speak.

"Dad said he was going away for a while, he didn't tell me where," he said, sounding quiet and awkward. This stirred the crowd into a chattered commotion again, and Leder had to clap his hands to silence them.

"Well, if they ain't here, I ain't waiting. Anyway, we need to sort out a couple of things here," Kumatora began, "First off, the doc's drew up some construction plans for buildings. First thing to do is get the Yado Inn going again."

A low murmur of mingled assent and bitterness began to rise again, but Kumatora pressed on, unwilling to let the chatter break out again. She wanted to at least at least get the meeting out of the way and hopefully have some time to gather her sanity before she had to go back to the whole "sudden leader of Tazmily" business again.

"It makes sense – more accommodation, more people can sleep inside, less likely for us all to die of hypo…hypothe…hypo…cold. The next thing…" she said, trailing off for a few seconds as she tried to find words that didn't sound completely nuts, "We found a kid the other day. Few months old, at the most. Dunno where she came from, but that's not the deal here. The kid needs a home. Anybody willing to take her in?"

This time, a ubiquitous silence slithered over the meeting. Couples glanced at each other anxiously, children look at each other in confusion and a few adults folded their arms and cocked their heads – cynical, and unsure. Her cheeks began to burn at the piercing, doubtful stares of the crowd gathered before her but she stood firm. Duster walked up to stand next to her, the baby awake and snuggled up in his arms.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Weird, and we're as clueless as you are. But _somebody _has to take care of the kid," she said. They were all chattering to each other quietly and intensely, people glancing up at them and back again as if they couldn't quite believe the request they were being given. It had only just sunk into Kumatora's mind how ludicrous it all was.

"Why can't you take care of it, Princess?" Pusher shouted suddenly, prompting everybody to turn their heads and stare at him, "You and the thief seem stable enough to raise her."

Kumatora's face slowly reddened as she realised what Pusher was implying.

"Me and _Duster _aren't like that. Besides, we've got enough to do," she said, and instantly regretted it.

"And we don't!" Pusher yelled. Kumatora rubbed her face as everybody began to shout angrily, or walk away. She held up both her hands, pleading wordlessly for them to stay and hear her out.

"Calm down, already! I didn't mean it like that! We're just saying somebody should take her in who wants to take her in!" she said, straining to remain calm.

"What did you mean it like, Princess?" Pusher demanded and Kumatora gritted her teeth.

"I just meant that I've got too much to do and too little maternal instinct to look after some sprog," she said, and decided her infuriation with the short bald man grew every single time he opened his mouth.

Pusher snorted derisively, and exchanged disgusted looks with a few other people in the crowd, as the muttering became chattering, and the chattering grew gradually noisier and angrier.

"Will you all shut up! This is getting us nowhere. Damnit, just calm down! This is a waste of time," she continued. Duster nudged her and she ignored him, stepping forward and not quite realising how loud she was becoming, "Now if you'd all damn well shut up maybe we can get everything sorted out!"

"Sorted out?"

"This is absurd."

"Who are you, anyway, Princess?"

"Princess of _what_, exactly?"

"Shut the hell up, all of you!" Kumatora boomed, her restraints snapping like strained tethers, and she suddenly thirsted for blood, "That fat pig sure did a number on the lot of you! Going for each others' necks like damn animals. Now shut up!"

Her screaming did nothing but antagonise the crowd further, and the baby began to cry in high, screeching notes.

Lighter suddenly slammed his piece of lumber into the ground with a resounding crack and the assembly fell into a shocked silence, the baby wailing and twisting in Duster's arms. The silence warmed to a resentful quiet before Kumatora could even begin speaking again.

"She's right, yanno, us guys gotta stick together. This ain't easy," Lighter said irritably, before his voice softened somewhat, "Now this kid needs somebody to take care of her, and if she needs it, I say we quit our bickering and do the right thing."

Kumatora could have laughed with relief – she would have never thought she'd be thankful for somebody interrupting her, of all things, since that was rather high on the long list of things that would cause her to hit somebody.

The crowd was quiet and some were nodding respectfully to Lighter's statement - though she still knew there was some doubt and resentment simmering below the surface. She'd probably have to ask Lucas later what everybody was generally feeling and thinking, she was no good at the whole emotions crap, really, powers or no powers.

"Okay, so is there anybody who could take her in, even if it's just for a while. Give her a name, a family if you can," she said, glad to regain some of her shaky composure, "Somebody who wouldn't be doing a lot of work on construction or anything."

She folded her arms and sighed, allowing everybody to begin chattering amongst themselves. She had no idea what the hell she would do with this kid if nobody took her in; it was like the situation was being made as damn difficult as possible on purpose.

The low chattering amongst the people was held together by a sense of dubiousness and uncertainty that left Kumatora sure nobody would choose to take care of the little brat.

Slowly, a hand was raised into the air. Kumatora stood on her toes and leaned over to see the women it belonged to – she was short and chubby, with red lips and choppy blonde hair and wearing a blue dress. She couldn't quite place the name until she noticed the man holding on to her hand; she was the innkeeper's wife, Betsy.

"Jackie and I can take care of the little dear, or at least I can and my husband can pretend to be competent," she said, and Jackie smiled weakly. Kumatora couldn't help but raise an eyebrow – that was one utterly bizarre relationship, "Somebody needs to take some responsibility."

"Okay, that's great," Kumatora said, grinning and hoping that she didn't look too relieved. She was also trying her best to not stick her fingers up at the people who were still glowering at her, "Lighter, you can get everybody to bring in some lumber, anybody with questions ask the doc. Getting construction started quickly'll be the best thing now."

After she was sure attention was taken from her, Kumatora let out a deep sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Man, these people are frigging nuts. Hope you know what you're doing Leder, because I damn well don't," she said, and looked up at the man with a stare that demanded explanation or answers. As usual, Leder said nothing.


End file.
